


Dance of Years

by right_at_the_end



Category: Doctor Who, Mattex - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Mattex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-30
Updated: 2015-08-30
Packaged: 2018-04-18 04:43:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4692467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/right_at_the_end/pseuds/right_at_the_end
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU fic. Alex, 16, is a dancer with Marie Smith's ballet school. Matt, also 16, is mooching backstage. They get off to a bad start, but things soon pick up. There's just one unwritten rule; no student goes near the teacher's son...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dance of Years

**Author's Note:**

  * For [River_Melody_Pond](https://archiveofourown.org/users/River_Melody_Pond/gifts).



> This was written for the wonderful River_Melody_Pond, thank you for all the encouragement and for being generally lovely x

Alex stood in the wings, doing prances in her pointes to warm up. The muscles in her legs were tired and achey-eight hours of rehearsals yesterday and four hours today had exhausted her. At least this would be the last dance.

The music started, and the dancers walked slowly onto the stage. Straight away the teacher, Marie, who was standing on the edge of the stage, began shouting corrections.  
"Higher, girls! Long arms! Up, up up!"

The tiredness was evident in every dancer as the song progressed. It was one of three dances that Alex would partake in in Tuesday's show, and in this dance, she had a small solo towards the end. She struggled towards the front, her couru wobbly and unstable. Her legs were reluctant about supporting her today. Marie stepped up beside her, giving her just enough room to move freely.  
"Turn out your front foot! Eyes up! Do try to smile, Alex! You're completely lacking emotion. The audience don't want to be bored to death, and they will be if you have no character!"  
She grimaced and danced rather stiffly, but managed to make it through without Marie murdering her. Chassé, posé turn, grande jeté, grande jeté and...finish! The class almost collapsed with relief.

It seemed to take forever for them to get off the stage. The show was in two days' time, and resting was front and foremost in Alex's mind. Her grade were doing three songs; This Woman's Work by Kate Bush, Going Home by Dorothy Previn and Terence Loves You by Lana Del Rey (in which she had the solo). Marie had choreographed them to perfection, and they had done them countless times during the past couple of days. Everybody was nervous already-Marie was quite the perfectionist, though she wasn't too likely to hold mistakes against anyone.

As Alex went into the wings, she stopped to take off her pointe shoes, rubbing her feet to relax the muscles. She started walking again without looking where she was going, and bumped straight into a figure carrying boxes of costumes. Romantic dresses spilled everywhere, a sea of colours on the floor.

"Look where you're going!" the boy said irritably. Alex recognised him as Marie's son, Matt. She had seen him hanging around before, but he always seemed childish and annoying.  
"I'm very sorry," she spat back, cranky now because she wanted food and sleep. She bent down to help him pick them up. "But you musn't've been paying much attention if you crashed into me."  
"Well, maybe if you dozy dancers could wake up a bit...!"  
"Excuse me?" she gasped, truly angry now. "Have you ever tried dancing? Because I'll have you know, the reason we're so exhausted is because it's incredibly difficult and strenuous!"  
"Please! All you do is prance around the stage in some silly pink shoes to a soppy backing track."  
"Right, I'm not talking to someone who can't even respect the art of ballet!" she spat, and with that, she stormed downstairs into the crowded dressing rooms.

Alex pushed her way through the dancers and found a reasonable space. In the mirror, she could see dark circles forming under her eyes. She took her hair down from the tight bun, massaging her head and basking in the weightless feeling on her scalp. Glancing at her reflection again, she realised that she looked even crazier now with her mane of hair sticking out everywhere. Her mind was beginning to analyse her previous conversation.

_Maybe I shouldn't have been so stubborn and stuck up about it._

But no, he had completely disregarded the years of hard work and dedication required to be able to dance. It infuriated her. She was not weak, nor were any of the other dancers. 

Sliding off her tights and putting on her tracksuit pants, her feet were proof of her strength. Alex was blessed with the perfect arches. High, but not so extreme as to be a hindrance in pointe work. Her feet were strong and flexible. They were also calloused and sore, and a few nails were bruised. The plasters and gel pads had saved her poor toes for the most part, but they had still been worked hard over the past few days, much moreso than usual.

Needing some music, she searched in her bag for her mobile. Rooting through her leotards and plasters, she realised that she must have left it backstage. She decided to go for it quickly, running up to the wings barefoot.

By the time she came back from the darkness of backstage, all but two of the girls had left. They stood in the corner whispering about something in a magazine, and paid Alex no attention at all. She went back to the mirror, changed into a vest top, put in her earphones and sat down to remove her makeup, her dramatic argument with Matt replaying in her mind.

_Will he tell his mother? Oh god, if Marie finds out I shall never set foot in that class again..._

Just as Alex finished up and put the wipes in the bin, there was a light kick on the door.  
"Everybody decent?" It was a male voice, sounding slightly strained.  
"Yes, there's only me left" she responded.  
The door opened and in walked Matt, of all people. He was staggering under the weight of five enormous costume boxes.  
"I believe these belong to your grade."  
Alex leaped to her feet to help him lower them against the wall.  
"Gosh, you're rather busy today. What are you, the costume lady?" Alex was determined now to try to be pleasant. She hoped her manner earlier hadn't insulted him.  
"Something like that. So, have you calmed down now?" He had one eyebrow raised in a sort of lopsided grin. He looked like Mowgli from the Jungle Book.  
"Oh dear, I'm very sorry, Matt. I was just tired, I didn't mean to be so crabby."  
"Don't worry, I threw a few tomatoes myself. I hope I didn't hurt your feelings." He sounded chatty, but she could tell he meant it.  
"It's okay." She wandered back to put on her socks and shoes, and Matt followed her, about to make conversation.  
"So what's your name?" he asked.  
She sat down, grabbed a sock and lifted her foot. "Alex," she told him, but Matt didn't seem to hear.  
"Holy Mary!" Matt exclaimed ."Your feet look so sore!"  
Alex blushed. She knew they must look very bad to someone who wasn't used to seeing so-called "ballet feet." Even some of the male dancers found them harsh. "I know, they're horrible," she said mournfully, "but the callouses actually prevent pain when you dance."  
"Jeesh, Alex, I had no idea it was so tough. You make it look so easy."  
"Thank you! That's a massive compliment."  
"Is it?"  
"Yes," she laughed. He chuckled in response, now noticing the muscles in her arms, her back, how toned and strong she actually was.  
"Lovely name, by the way."

They made eye contact.  
He smiled at her.  
She smiled back warmly.  
He felt something.

**Author's Note:**

> (All my titles seem to come from songs lmao.) So that's that! It's a snack chapter but I'll try to make the next ones proper meals. Thanks for reading, kudos are much appreciated, comments are treasured, both keep me writing x


End file.
